"Pinkie?" Lyra's voice resonated in Pinkie's head. "Pinkie, what the hell is going on?!" there was a strong note of fear in Lyra's voice. The Hunter had gotten to her feet, looking around frantically. The Lagiacrus was definitely very dead. Her eyes were practically glued to its corpse as the ground beneath her feet threatened to leave her. Pinkie was too stunned to even answer at this point. "Pinkie!!!"
"Ack! Don't scream! I have no idea what's going on! The Lagiacrus is dead. I'm staring at it right now!" Pinkie kicked the motionless monster. She kicked it a few more times out of frustration. "I thought the Lagiacrus was the cause of all the quakes. Why is this still happening?" All her hard work. All those weeks spent training to kill this thing, and it wasn't even the source of the earthquakes.
"Just...Just get back to the village. The Guild is ordering a complete evacuation of Moga." Lyra sounded nervous. Pinkie could tell that the Guild hadn't told her anything besides that they were to evacuate. She knew the liaison hated being left in the dark, especially when it could mean trouble to those around her. "I'm making sure that everyone gets on the boats. Get back here in one piece and we'll decide what to do from there."
"I'm on my way." with that, Pinkie started moving towards the village as fast as she could. A piece of her praying that she would not run into whatever was behind this quake.
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"Over here, Pinkie!" Lyra waved frantically, drawing her attention. The Hunter could hear some of the wood cracking in the village, structures starting to splinter as the quake worsened. "Most of the villagers are on a boat headed for the mainland. The Guild is offering them safe haven until we figure out what's causing all this."
"Are you going to the mainland too, Lyra?" Pinkie was bracing herself against Lyra's counter. The liaison nodded.
"I have to. I haven't been assigned to another area. I need to wait for a new assignment or until Moga is safe enough to return to." the liaison wore a sad look as she spoke, and the earthquake finally started to recede. The shaking stopped, and the village was, for the most part, unscathed. A few of the smaller structures had collapsed, but when the shaking stopped, silence fell. Pinkie realized just how alone they were. She raised her head, removing her hands from Lyra's counter. There was no one in Moga except for the two of them. "What about you?" Lyra cocked her head, watching the Hunter. "You're coming back to the mainland too, right?" Pinkie shook her head. "What do you mean, no?!"
"I'm going to Tanzia. Whatever is down there is large and unhappy. The only surefire way to get rid of it is to get strong enough to kill it." Pinkie crossed her arms, a smile spreading across her face. "I only know of one way to do that." Lyra gave her a pleading look. "I need to get better at my job. If I was, this problem would already be solved. As it stands, people are going to lose their homes due to my incompetence. I...I can't let that happen. I can't let my friends down." Pinkie smiled at Lyra, who shook her head, then gave her friend a hug.
"They'll thank you, Pinkie. Provided this way of thinking doesn't get you killed. Good luck. Hopefully, we'll see you again soon." Lyra let her go, making her way for the last boat to the mainland. "Be careful, Pinkie Pie!" Lyra waved and Pinkie returned the gesture. She stood solemnly in the middle of the empty Moga Village, scratching the back of her head. She'd put on a brave face for Lyra, but she wasn't any more confident in herself since last time, and that had almost gotten her killed. She climbed aboard Neko's boat, and the Felyn looked at her.
"To Tanzia, madam?" Neko asked her as she took a seat. The Hunter just nodded and leaned back, staring at the sky as the Felyn pushed the boat away from the dock. It rocked gently in the waves, the wind catching the sails and carrying them towards Tanzia Port.
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The boat drifted gently into the port, and the Hunter disembarked. Her armor clanked with every step, and she entered the tavern for the second time. A few of the other Hunters looked at her, a few mumbling to one another. She chose to ignore them, assuming they were bringing up her last miserable failure. She walked silently up to the bulletin board, acknowledging no one. She saw the quest she wanted, the same one as before. The Qurupeco staring at her from the page. She turned around and came face-to-face with a man with a familiar pink pompadour. She had to fight back laughter.
"About as mature as I remember, Pinkamena. That armor, however, indicates that you know what you're doing, now." Wookie pointed out, crossing his arms. He wore armor that Pinkie recognized as being constructed from Bhahabara parts. The insects made good Gunner armor, and that's exactly what he was adorned in, though it looked much more like an outfit that one would wear to a formal event rather than a hunt, but Pinkie wasn't about to judge anyone. Then, she noticed the monocle, and a for of renewed giggles took her. Wookie sighed, rolling his eyes and waiting for her to regain her composure. This all felt very familiar. "I assume you're with me on this hunt?" he asked, pointing at the piece of paper in her hands. Pinkie had regained control of herself, and nodded.
"Yes. It's time to show that damn thing what for." Pinkie punched her right fist into her left hand. Wookie smirked. Something told him that this wasn't going to go at all like last time. "Let's do this!" Pinkie threw her hands in the air and made her way for the boat, optimistic about this hunt, despite the events that transpired at Moga. Wookie followed behind her, his newly crafted Arca Raptora compacted on his back. It was a beautiful Bow, constructed mostly of refined ore. It was a deep blue, with yellow lines arcing up from the center. When drawn, top to bottom it was almost as tall as the Hunter who wields it. Most bows followed this rule, and were all rather large. Pinkie's hand was gripping the hilt of her axe as she grew impatient. Everything that took more than five minutes frustrated her. Her thoughts with Lyra and the denizens of Moga. Of how they may never see their home again.
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"Maybe it's hiding?" Pinkie suggested, shading her eyes from the sunlight as she looked around for their target. "Like, maybe it remembers last time and it knows we're back for sweet revenge." she clenched a fist grinning.
"Somehow, I doubt that." Wookie Love spoke, climbing onto a rock to get the high ground. They had been searching for an easy ten minutes, with no sight of the Qurupeco. It wasn't until he was higher up that he saw the bright plumage of the monster. It was at the top of a cliff, asleep. There was a small stream running next to the monster descending down into a waterfall that spilled into a creek that ran calmly through the area. Adjusting his monocle slightly, he drew the Arca Raptora, the weapon unfurling to its full size. Pulling an arrow from the quiver on his back, he cocked it into the drawstring. "Pinkamena..." Pinkie looked over at him in response to hearing her name, a bug net in her left hand, and several bugs in the other. "I see it." the Huntress jammed the bugs into her bag and grabbed the hilt of her Switch Axe, looking around rapidly.
"Where?" she asked, tilting her head. Wookie jerked his head up, and Pinkie looked at the cliff, her eyes tracing up the waterfall until they reached the top of the cliff. "How the hell do we get up there?"
"We don't." Wookie said, calmly. He drew the arrow back as far as he could before releasing it. It whistled through the air, arcing gently before they heard a tell-tale 'pop' that came with a puncturing wound. The screech that followed alerted them both to the success of the attack. "Here it comes." as soon as the words left his mouth, the oversized bird leapt from the top of the cliff, nosediving towards Wookie. His position atop the rock made him a more prominent target.
The monster paid no mind to the Huntress in Rathian Armor, which ended up being a grave error. As the Qurupeco reached the bottom of its flight arc, Pinkie thrust her weapon into the air, tearing its wing open and sending the monster careening off course. The bird wyvern hit the ground hard, rolling helplessly as it tried to gain control of its body. Wookie was loosing arrow after arrow at the beast as Pinkie made her way closer while staying out of the way of her partner's projectiles. The monster stood up and puffed out its chest, preparing to call for help.
"Not this time!" Pinkie leapt in and sunk her axe into the red, fleshy skin. It didn't split it as well as she'd hoped, but it winded the beast, sending it stumbling back. The monster shook its head, making threatening noises before taking a large arrow to the face. It let out a screech and turned tail, scrambling away. It looked like an awkward chicken as it ran, a few more of Wookie's arrows catching it in the back during its retreat. The monster went out of view as Pinkie out her weapon away. Wookie hopped down from his perch, running up next to the Huntress.
"This is going much better than last time." he said, a smirk spreading across his face. Pinkie nodded and they started to pursue their fleeing prey. They ascended the hill that lead into the area that networked the caves together. While this area itself was outside, there were entrances to both tunnels here. Pinkie was on point, Wookie about fifteen feet behind her. He had drawn his Bow again, head on a swivel. They heard wings beating the air. "Is it running?" Wookie asked, looking towards the sky.
"I don't think so." Pinkie said, diving out of the way as a Rathian crashed down between them. "So, we meet again?" Pinkie's Dragonmaiden Axe clicked menacingly into axe mode.
"Don't worry about her!" Wookie yelled. "We just have to kill the bird!"
"So go after the bird!" Pinkie took a swing at the wyvern, hitting it hard in the face, making the monster stumble. "I'll keep this one busy!" Wookie just shook his head and ran past the Rathian, which took a lunging bite at Pinkie. The Qurupeco came into view and he started loosing arrows at it immediately. Three sunk into its feathery hide before it turned to face him. He heard the Rathian let out a ferocious roar, but his eyes never left the Qurupeco. "Wookie! Duck!" he didn't think twice, immediately diving to the ground. Wookie felt a fierce heat pass over him, and he raised his head in time to see the Rathian's fireball send the Qurupeco to the ground. He recovered and pointed his Bow straight up. He started firing volleys upwards, and they rained down on the struggling bird wyvern.
Pinkie was holding onto the Rathian's tail with her legs, hanging upside down from the wyvern that had gone airborne. As she started to fly towards the nest, Pinkie noticed a bright flash below her. Not a second later, she saw arrow sized holes appearing in the webbing of the Rathian's wings. She grinned as the wyvern tumbled from the sky. Pinkie dug her axe into the Rathian's tail and swung herself away from the monster as it crash landed into the Qurupeco. The two were tangled up in one another, Wookie hammering them with a storm of arrows and Pinkie throwing a fury of blows at them. She noticed when the wounds she was causing had a purple tinge.
"They're poisoned!" she yelled before running away as both monsters managed to recover to their feet. The Rathian had small plumes of fire crawling from her mouth, rage prominent in her glare. The Qurupeco looked as though it had been through the wringer. It started to limp away as the Rathian charged the Hunters down. They dove out of her way, Pinkie to the left and Wookie to the right. The wyvern barreled past them, the Qurupeco taking off high into the air. Wookie loosed an arrow at the fleeing beast, but it arced lamely, far below the monster.
"Dammit!" he cursed, standing upright and taking a fireball in the back. The force of the blast throwing him a clean twenty feet before he hit the ground. He rolled about ten more feet before finally coming to a halt, armor smoking slightly. He had rolled into a nearby creek, which had extinguished the flames that had engulfed him. He sat upright, shaking his head. He looked up and saw Pinkie standing above him, her Switch Axe, now in sword mode, impaled up through the Rathian's mouth. The monster's eyes were rolled into the back of its head, its blood running down Pinkie's weapon and dripping loudly onto the ground. Pinkie tore open the exhaust port and started revving the weapon. She could hear the Rathian's brain being reduced to goo as the sword started to shread the monster's skull apart. The blast at the end removed the greater portion of the Rathian's head, and the body of the beast slumped to the ground. The exhaust port hissed and closed, the head of the axe sliding back into position.
Pinkie turned to face Wookie, and the look in her eyes sent shivers down her partner's spine. Her eyes had the look of a Hunter possessed, a frenzied beast lingered beneath the surface of this girl who had a problem controlling her laughter. She put her weapon away, and her eyes softened. She helped her partner to his feet.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side..." Wookie spoke, his gaze falling upon the mostly-headless Rathian. Pinkie let out a small laugh and started skipping off after the Qurupeco. Wookie was pretty sure he heard a "La la-la" as she went. They made it into the cave, and they found their target curled up into a ball. Its snores echoed off the cave walls, drowning out the other sounds. "You want first attack?" Wookie asked her, watching as she drew her weapon. He couldn't help but notice how clean it was, despite where it had been planted not more than a few minutes ago.
"Don't I usually?" Pinkie responded, closing the gap on the creature. She raised her axe high above her head and smashed it down into the flint that tipped the folds of its wings. They sparked brilliantly as they shattered. The Qurupeco getting quickly to its feet, just in time to take an arrow to the side of the head. It stumbled toward Pinkie, who took a baseball swing at its beak, cracking it open and shattering the ends off. The monster stumbled back towards Wookie and a violent game of ping pong began. Between the poison and the brutal assault of the two Hunters, the Qurupeco soon collapsed, the last of its life leaving it in a violent fit of twitching, death wails escaping before the creature fell still and silent. The Hunters stood over their fallen foe, both breathing heavily.
"Yeah! Teamwork!" they said in unison before giving each other a high-five.
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The Hunters returned to the tavern at Tanzia in much better spirits than the last time they had gone toe-to-toe with the Qurupeco. They collected their payment from the liaison behind the counter. A polite girl with a two-tone purple hairstyle. Pinkie made a mental note to familiarize herself with the new liaison soon.
"So...Now what?" Wookie spoke, causing Pinkie to look over her shoulder at him. "That went really well, and I would like to continue to hunt with you, Pinkamena." he extended his hand, and she shook it, grinning.
"Just call me Pinkie." her smile was wide. If Moga was the darkness, then Tanzia was the dawn. She would get experience here, gather materials, and work her butt off. When all that was accomplished, she would return to Moga and send whatever it was to the great hunting grounds in the sky.